A Line in the Sand : Saudi Group Show

March 2013- In collaboration with Athr Gallery, ARTSPACE Dubai presents A Line in the Sand; a group show of seven young and emerging Saudi artists, showing works across a spectrum of various medias, curated by Raneem Farsi and Aya Alireza. The featured artists include, Ahmed Angawi, Musaed Al-Hulis, Rashed Al-Shashai, Basma Felemban, Sara Khoja, Eyad Maghazel and Shaweesh. The sponsor of the exhibition is Saudi Research and Marketing Group and the media sponsor is Asharq Al-Awsat.

To draw a line in the sand is a symbolic gesture that denotes a point beyond which one cannot go any further. It is a gesture of daring, a challenge, to test a person’s courage and resolve to take the next step. However, at the end of the day, it is but a line in sand, a transitory mark that will fade as it is dissolved by the very sand it is drawn on. It is but a harmless illusion of danger, a line whose substance is more in mind than in matter.

Each of the participating artists is pushing the boundaries, and braving the limitations set by their environment, limitations that are both real; in the form of the everyday obstacles an artist faces, and perceived; in the form of the restrictions imposed upon themselves in their imagination. The latter are the most difficult to overcome.

These young artists are conquering these mental obstacles, and stepping over the line in the sand. Their works are a confrontation of themselves in their attempts to conceptualize ideas and notions that are dearest to their hearts and at the forefronts of their minds, be they personal, spiritual, social or political, with the sole purpose of dissolving the barriers that separate us via a universal form of communication.

A Line in the Sand does not just reveal artists overcoming barriers. There are two sides to every barrier, as there are two faces to every coin. The exhibition seeks to flip the coin, as the artists themselves not only step over the line, but draw it; the artists aim to challenge and engage the visitors in turn, not merely to view the works, but in fact to interpret them, for only with this two-way exchange can communication and dialogue succeed, and barriers truly dissolved.